Wolfe’s double overtime goal lifts 

Michigan over Nebraska

Raleigh Loughman carried 

the ball up the right wing with 

pace. The junior midfielder 

cut to her left on the edge of 

the box and looped in a cross 

that was knocked down by a 

Nebraska defender. Freshman 

forward 
Sammi 
Woods 

scooped up the loose ball and 

— without looking — tapped 

the ball with the back of her 

heel over towards a lurking 

Danielle Wolfe. 

The 
sophomore 
forward 

took one touch on the ball and 

fired a left-footed screamer 

into the top right corner of 

the Nebraska goal, putting an 

abrupt end to a 3-2 double-

overtime victory for Michigan 

(2-1-2 Big Ten) over Nebraska 

(1-2-1).

While Michigan ultimately 

prevailed, the first half made 

winning appear unlikely. In the 

second minute of play, junior 

defender Janiece Joyner overshot 

senior defensive partner Alia 

Martin on a cross-pitch pass 

just outside the Michigan box, 

perfectly setting up Nebraska 

forward Reagan Raabe for a 

first-touch shot that gave the 

Cornhuskers an early 1-0 lead. 

Ten minutes later, Raabe 

weaved 
through 
multiple 

Wolverine defenders but lost 

possession two yards outside 

the box, coming just short of 

doubling the Cornhuskers lead. 

In the 30th minute, though, 

the 
Wolverines 
received 
a 

modicum of karma. A Nebraska 

defender couldn’t clear the ball 

near the penalty spot, perfectly 

setting up freshman forward 

Kacey Lawrence for a high-

velocity 
strike 
that 
landed 

in the top left corner of the 

Nebraska net. Lawrence’s first 

career goal tied it up 1-1. 

Just 
one 
minute 
later, 

Cornhusker midfielder Dakota 

Chan 
connected 
with 
her 

teammate 
Marissa 
Popoola 

for a set-piece corner kick 

goal that gave Nebraska a 2-1 

lead. Popoola’s goal was a 

powerful header, giving senior 

goalkeeper Hillary Beall no 

opportunity to make a save on 

the shot. 

Despite trailing 2-1 at the 

half, Michigan came out firing 

on all cylinders at the start of 

the second. During the first 25 

minutes, Michigan racked up 

10 shots, compared to zero from 

Nebraska. One of those shots, 

a cross-net header by junior 

defender 
Sydney 
Shepherd, 

coming off of a Loughman 

corner kick, found the back 

of the net in the 60th minute, 

equalizing the score at 2-2. 

“We figured if we could 

make it through the first half, 

and get the wind (blowing) 

with us in the second half 

we would really give us a 

huge boost,” Michigan coach 

Jennifer Klein said. “I do think 

that it did (help us).”

Even-footed 
play 
during 

the next half hour resulted in 

a defensive struggle, sending 

the match to overtime. In the 

first overtime period, neither 

team put a shot on net. The 

Wolverines changed that in 

the second overtime period. 

They came out of the gate 

with 
an 
offensive 
barrage, 

sending three shots toward 

the Nebraska net. In the 104th 

minute, Wolfe hit the post. In 

the 105th, she hit the back of 

the net. 

“I (am) really proud of (the 

team’s) fight and grit,” Klein 

said. “They stayed the course 

and stuck to the game plan. 

We (got) the result so (I am) 

extremely proud of them.”

Neither goalkeeper played 

all too well today, as Michigan’s 

Beall and Nebraska’s Makinzie 

Short combined for five goals 

allowed but just six saves. 

At the end of the day, it all 

came down to momentum. 

Nebraska felt the hot hand 

early, Michigan caught fire 

during crunch time.

HAYDEN GRIJNSZTEIN

For The Daily

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily

After a lopsided game, Michigan finally drove in its win against Nebraska with a double overtime goal.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
14 — Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Transfers bolster lineup in 

opening series

Coming off draining competition at Winter Cup Challenge, Bock 

leads Michigan to win over Iowa

On 
March 
6, 
sophomore 

outfielder Jake Marti stepped 

into the batter’s box for the 

first time as a member of the 

Michigan baseball team — and 

as a Division I athlete. He’d 

spent the last two years raking at 

Heartland Community College, 

where he earned an All-Midwest 

Athletic Conference selection, 

but that’s no guarantee of 

success in the Division I game. 

“It’s a big jump coming from 

a junior college to this level,” 

Marti admitted. 

Still, in his first taste of 

Division I action, Marti looked 

right at home. On the first pitch 

he saw, he connected for a two-

run double that gave the No. 18 

Wolverines an early lead in their 

season opener against Iowa. 

Marti 
wasn’t 
the 
only 

transfer bat to help Michigan 

to its 3-1 weekend series 

victory. 
He 
and 
shortstop 

Benjamin 
Sems, 
catcher 

Griffin 
Mazur 
and 
third 

baseman Christian Molfetta 

— all fifth-year transfers — 

combined for a .334/.480/.590 

slash line and participated in 

several game-breaking rallies. 

“They’re here to fill some 

holes and plug some gaps, and 

that’s exactly what they did,” 

Michigan coach Erik Bakich 

said. 

When the Hawkeyes tied 

game one in the seventh 

inning, the Wolverines didn’t 

wait long before reclaiming 

the lead. After sophomore 

outfielder Tito Flores began 

the eighth with a double, he 

advanced to third off a bunt 

from Sems and driven in by a 

Molfetta single. 

“He’s a hell of a player and 

a versatile player,” Bakich 

said of Molfetta. “He stepped 

right into third base and 

filled in for (sophomore third 

baseman) Ted Burton,” who 

missed the series with an 

illness. “He made outstanding 

plays defensively and he had a 

ton of quality at-bats.”

After a quiet showing in 

game two, Michigan’s offense 

returned in game three, led by 

its transfers. With two outs 

and the bases loaded in the 

bottom of the second, it was 

Mazur’s turn for heroics; he 

crushed a changeup to left-

center field for a grand slam.

“We weren’t hurting for 

a hit, but we needed a hit to 

open things up, let everyone 

relax a little bit,” Mazur said 

in an interview posted on 

Michigan baseball’s Twitter 

account. 
“It 
was 
pretty 

awesome to get that first hit 

in a Michigan uniform. These 

guys have done nothing but 

accept me, and bring me into 

the team.”

Mazur’s 
coaches 
and 

teammates 
shared 
his 

enthusiasm for the highlight.

“He got voted one of the team 

captains, and his leadership is 

just off the charts,” Bakich said. 

“He’s a sparkplug, he gets big 

hits, he’s a clutch hitter. He’s a 

general out there on the field. 

He’s got all the intangible skills 

you would want.”

Added Flores: “You love to 

see your brother hit a homerun. 

… He’s a wonderful person, 

and that’s why he’s one of our 

captains on this team.”

By the final game of the series, 

Marti, Molfetta and Mazur were 

hitting first, third and fourth 

in the order, respectively. They 

joined Sems to combine for six 

runs and nine hits in a dominant 

11-4 win. 

None of this quartet had 

played for Michigan before, 

and one of them was new to 

Division I baseball entirely. 

But they needed just one series 

to 
establish 
themselves 
as 

cornerstones of the Wolverines’ 

offense. 

“It’s an awesome experience 

to come in here and know that 

I’m not alone, with all the 

transfers,” Marti said. “A bunch 

of new faces, making the lineup 

and 
just 
stringing 
together 

at-bats. I felt like we fed off each 

other’s energy really well all 

weekend, so that was really cool 

to see.”

Approaching 
his 
dismount 
off 

the pommel horse, senior Cameron 

Bock could hear the screams of 

encouragement from his teammates 

at the edge of the mat. He pushed 

himself up into a handstand on the 

horse, using the motivation from the 

sidelines, and ended the routine with 

a solid landing — earning a score of 

14.550, a new career high. 

Although 
the 
voices 
of 
his 

teammates 
helped 
motivate 
his 

routines during the Michigan men’s 

gymnastics win over No. 7 Iowa, 

Bock has also had to discipline 

himself to perform the same routines 

in almost complete silence. In the 

Winter Cup Challenge on Feb. 26-28, 

the 
atmosphere 
was 
completely 

different than that of a normal 

Michigan dual meet.

“Whenever someone goes up and 

does their routine (at a Michigan 

meet), everyone is yelling for them, 

you got the team support, it’s 

pretty loud,” Bock said. “In USA 

competitions, it’s almost dead silent. 

The music is low, you have maybe one 

or two other guys on your team there 

or your coach rooting you on, but it’s 

really just a different vibe.”

Both Bock and sophomore Paul 

Juda competed in the Winter Cup 

Challenge and were named part of 

the U.S. national team, with Bock 

placing first in the meet and Juda 

placing sixth. Bock competed in 

both days of the Winter Cup, as well 

as at a meet on Feb. 21 against No. 3 

Nebraska and No. 7 Illinois, for a total 

of three draining meets in a span of 

a week. With the meet this week 

against Iowa following the intense 

stretch, Bock did not compete on all 

events to allow for a break. 

“Our two main all around guys 

are Cameron Bock and Paul Juda, 

and they just finished a stretch of 

competition that was really grueling, 

really brutal,” Michigan coach Kurt 

Golder said. “Even if it weren’t — 

which it is — physically fatiguing, 

it’s mentally fatiguing because all 

of those meets were big pressure 

cookers.”

The strain of the last few meets did 

not seem to have much of an effect on 

Bock’s routines for the Wolverines on 

Saturday. Following his performance 

on the pommel horse, he tallied a 

14.400 on the still rings, sticking the 

landing on the dismount and getting 

a huge reaction from the team once 

again. Bock’s lowest-scoring event of 

the day was vault, where he scored 

a 14.150, but he finished his day off 

with a solid parallel performance, 

landing a solid double back pike 

dismount to post a score of 14.400. 

Bock competed last in the lineup on 

each event during the meet in order 

to stay consistent and help the team 

finish with a strong performance.

“From 
a 
more 
logistical 

standpoint, I go last simply because 

I do all the events, so it gives me a 

little more time to rest,” Bock said. 

“But in terms of the mentality, I’ve 

been put in that position many times, 

where if we have a couple falls or 

some adversity in the routines prior, 

I’ll just keep my head down, do my 

routine and try to get a good score 

for the team to bring it back.”

In the meet against the Hawkeyes, 

Bock captured event titles on the 

pommel horse, still rings and parallel 

bars. Bock, alongside Juda, is not only 

training towards the Big Ten and 

NCAA Championships like the rest of 

the Michigan team: he’s also training 

for the USA Championships and the 

Olympic Trials in June. It means 

they often have different practice 

schedules 
from 
their 
teammates, 

but they’re still key leaders for the 

Wolverines.

“(Juda and Bock) are both in the 

same (practice) group … and the 

group coach there, I just let him do it 

however he wants to do it with those 

two guys,” Golder said. “During the 

week, we’ll have scheduled intersquad 

meets on various events, and we don’t 

require those guys to be a part of it. 

So they can just do their own training 

plan for what they need to do.”

Ultimately, although it was a 

grueling few weeks, Bock didn’t 

miss a beat against Iowa, and 

the 
Wolverines 
notched 
solid 

performances with Bock at the 

forefront.

JACK WHITTEN
Daily Sports Writer

SAMI RUUD
For The Daily

ALEC COHEN/Daily

The Wolverines’ transfers were central to their success in their opening series against Iowa.

 MADDIE FOX/Daily

Senior Cameron Bock scored a career-high on the pommel horse this weekend’s Winter Cup Challenge.

